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An ottoman bed is one of the smartest buys for a UK home, but here’s the uncomfortable truth about the budget end: it’s where the most corners get cut, and where a bargain most easily turns into a false economy. An ottoman has moving parts, and cheap moving parts fail. So the trick with a budget ottoman isn’t just finding a low price; it’s finding a cheap storage bed that isn’t flimsy. That’s entirely possible, if you know exactly where the money should and shouldn’t be saved.
This guide shows you how to buy a budget ottoman without ending up with a bed that sags, sticks or gives out within a couple of years.
The honest problem with cheap ottomans
The whole appeal of an ottoman is a mechanism that lifts a heavy mattress platform safely and holds it up. That mechanism, the gas struts and the reinforced storage base, costs money to make well. When a bed is priced suspiciously low, the savings almost always come from exactly those parts, which are the ones you can’t see in a photo and the ones that matter most. Here’s where cheap ottomans typically cut corners, and what to check instead.
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Where cheap ottomans cut corners |
What to check before you buy |
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Weak or mismatched gas struts |
That the struts are strong enough to hold the platform up safely and rated for the mattress weight |
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Thin or slatted storage base |
That the base is solid and boarded, so things don’t slip through or gather dust |
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Flimsy frame and joints |
That the frame feels sturdy and is built to take repeated lifting |
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Cheap, thin upholstery |
That the fabric is dense enough to wear well, not paper-thin |
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Vague or missing specifications |
That the listing actually tells you about the struts, base and materials |
If a cheap listing goes quiet on the struts and the base, assume the worst, because those are precisely the things a corner-cutter doesn’t want to talk about.
What to prioritise when money’s tight
On a budget, you can’t have everything, so spend where failure hurts most. The struts and the storage base come first, always, because they’re what makes an ottoman an ottoman and what fails on a bad one. A sturdy frame is next, since it takes the strain of lifting. Only after those are sound should you worry about the fabric, the colour and the headboard drama. Get that order right and a modestly priced ottoman can be genuinely solid; get it wrong, spending on a pretty fabric over weak struts, and you’ve bought a good-looking bed that breaks.
Where it’s fine to save, and where it isn’t
Some savings are smart and some are dangerous, and knowing the difference is the whole game. It’s fine to save on the fabric colour and finish, on an elaborate headboard, and on brand cachet, since none of those affects whether the bed works. It’s not fine to save on the struts, the storage base or the core frame, because those are what keep the bed safe and lasting. In other words, buy a plainer, simpler ottoman that’s well built rather than a fancier-looking one that’s hollow underneath. Style is cheap to add later; a failed mechanism is expensive to live with.
Size and budget
One easy way to stretch a budget is to be realistic about size. A smaller ottoman costs less and, in a small room, often suits better anyway, so don’t pay for a super king you’ll then have to cram in. Matching the size honestly to the room keeps the price down and the room usable, and it means more of your budget goes into build quality rather than sheer size.
Red flags in cheap listings
A few warning signs should make you pause. No mention of the gas struts or their rating. Vague materials described only as “wood” with no detail. Upholstery that looks thin or plasticky in photos. And a price dramatically below everything comparable, because a lot goes into an ottoman and genuinely cheap usually means genuinely compromised. A trustworthy budget ottoman will still tell you about the parts that matter; a dubious one hides behind a nice photo and a low number.
Is it worth spending a little more?
Often, yes, and it’s worth being honest about that. The jump from the very cheapest ottoman to a well-made budget or entry mid-range one usually buys exactly the things that fail on the cheapest: proper struts, a solid base, a sturdier frame. Since those are the parts that determine whether the bed lasts two years or ten, that modest step up is frequently the difference between a false economy and genuine value. You don’t need to buy premium; you just need to clear the floor of the very bottom, where the corners are cut hardest.
Making a budget ottoman last
Once you’ve bought well, a little care keeps a budget ottoman going. Don’t overload the storage beyond what the struts are built to lift with, use the mechanism as intended rather than forcing it, and deal with spills on the fabric promptly. If the room is a child’s or a busy one, choosing an easy-care, wipe-clean fabric saves the upholstery from everyday punishment, as our guide to wipe-clean bed frames explains. Treated sensibly, a well-chosen budget ottoman will serve you for years.
Budget ottoman or a cheap non-storage bed?
If you’re watching every pound, you might wonder whether to skip the storage and buy the cheapest plain bed instead. Usually, the small premium for a budget ottoman is worth it, precisely because of the space it saves. A cheap plain bed leaves the area under it as dead space, which in a small or storage-starved room you’ll end up filling with separate furniture that costs money and eats floor. A sound budget ottoman turns that space into storage from day one. So rather than dropping the storage to save a little, the smarter budget move is usually to keep the ottoman and save elsewhere, on size, fabric or styling, while keeping the mechanism sound.
What a good budget ottoman actually looks like
It’s easy to focus on what to avoid, so here’s the positive picture. A sound budget ottoman has gas struts strong enough to lift and hold the platform safely, a solid, boarded storage base rather than open slats, and a frame sturdy enough to take repeated use without flexing. Its upholstery is simple but dense enough to wear well, and its styling is likely plainer than a premium bed, which is exactly the right corner to cut. It won’t have the heaviest-duty engineering or the richest fabric, but it will do the actual job of an ottoman reliably for years. Plain and solid beats fancy and hollow every time on a budget.
Size down, not quality down
The single best way to protect quality on a tight budget is to be flexible on size rather than on build. Dropping from a super king to a king, or a king to a double, frees up budget that can go into a sturdier bed, and in a smaller room the smaller size often suits better anyway. It’s far wiser to buy a well-built smaller ottoman than a poorly built larger one, since the smaller good bed lasts and the larger bad one fails. Let the room and the build lead, and treat size as the flexible variable.
Budget ottomans for guest and children’s rooms
Budget ottomans come into their own in guest and children’s rooms, where you want the storage without a big outlay. In a guest room, the storage holds spare bedding and the bed stays presentable between visits. In a child’s room, it swallows the endless clutter, and an easy-care fabric handles the spills and sticky hands, as our wipe-clean bed frames guide covers. In both, a sensibly built budget ottoman does everything asked of it, provided the struts, base and frame are sound.
How to compare two budget ottomans
Faced with two similarly priced ottomans, a quick method sorts the sound from the flimsy. First, compare what each says about its gas struts, since the one that’s specific and confident about them is usually the better bet, and silence is a red flag. Second, compare the storage base: solid and boarded beats thin or slatted every time. Third, look at the frame description and the fabric weight, favouring sturdier construction and denser upholstery. If one bed is cheaper but vaguer on all three, the saving is almost certainly coming from the parts that fail. Buy the one that’s honest and solid on the struts, base and frame, even if it’s a little plainer to look at.
Who a budget ottoman suits
A sensibly built budget ottoman is a strong choice for a spare or guest room, a child’s room, a first flat, or anywhere you want the storage without a big outlay. The key word is sensibly built: cheap in price but sound in the struts, base and frame. Our guide to the best ottoman beds covers what a well-made one looks like across the range.
Where Justbed fits
At Justbed we believe an accessible price shouldn’t mean a flimsy bed, so we build the parts that matter, the struts, the base, the frame, to last even on our more affordable ottomans. A budget storage bed should still be a proper bed, and with the right priorities, it absolutely can be.
